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Monday, February 28, 2011

Girl Scout Cookies: Tagalongs and Trefoils

It's Girl Scout cookie time and I think this is the first year ever that I haven't bought or eaten their cookies. I was a Girls Scout when I was little and my mom was not only my leader, but was also in charge of the cookie sales for our area. So, this time of the year, a huge semi truck full of Girl Scout cookies would pull up to our house and our garage would be filled from floor to ceiling with cookies, until all of the leaders would come and take their troops cookies. I remember playing hide and seek in between those boxes, smelling the yummy cookies and wishing they were all ours. :) Well, I still want my Girl Scout cookies and there are quite a few gluten-free recipes to choose from, so I decided to try making a few this weekend. This recipe is adapted from Gluten Free Betsy, with a few minor changes--I left out the milk that she called for in her recipe and it turned out fine, and of course we made it dairy free as well. But her recipe worked out very nicely, so I give her all the credit for this.

The cookie base is your Trefoil cookie, to make the Tagalong add the peanut butter and chocolate. The cookie is more like a crisp sugar cookie than a shortbread cookie, but my boys loved them plain, so I was satisfied. The cookie base also works for Samoas, but I'm still perfecting the caramel for it, once I do that, I'll post the recipe. :)
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Also, I used Enjoy Life Boom Choco Boom rice milk chocolate bars to make the chocolate coating, this was a huge splurge for us, because they are not cheap, but these cookies really do need the milk chocolate taste, it was worth every penny to have the milk chocolate again--trust me!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either scoop tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball, and flatten, or roll the dough out between gf floured wax paper to about ¼ inch thickness. Use round cookie cutters to make small circles.

Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, they won't be really browned, but promise me they are done.

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Spread a spoonful of the filling onto each cookie.

Chill cookies in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes, or until the peanut butter is firm.

Chop Enjoy Life chocolate bars into small chunks, then melt in a double boiler with shortening until smooth. Dip each cookie into the chocolate, covering competely and place on parchment paper to set. Cookies can be pleaced in the fridge to spped up the setting process.

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Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My Story

At 29 years old, I have finally figured out why I have been sick off and on for my whole life...gluten. After being very, very ill for a month, I went gluten-free and dairy-free. Shortly after that my children were tested and their intolerances were discovered as well. My older one is gluten intolerant, and my younger one is gluten, casein, and soy intolerant. This has changed our lives, we are feeling better than we ever have. And I'm enjoying cooking more than I ever have, too! Having food intolerances isn't the end of your life, life does go on, and food does still taste good, this blog is proof!